So, What Are You Doing After the Deposition?

Gem of a piece in today’s New York Law Journal (registration required), in which a judge has ordered court supervision of attorney Thomas Decea whenever his appears next to his female opposing counsel, due to his alleged propensity for demeaning and sexist remarks.

Decea represents the hedge fund Laddcap Value, which has accused its prior law firm Lowenstein Sandler of misconduct. During an October deposition of fund manager Robert Ladd, Decea dropped some choice remarks toward Lowenstein Sandler’s attorney Michelle Rice, including “You better get somebody else here to try this case, otherwise you’re going to be one sorry girl,” and “This is not a white collar interview that you’re sitting here interviewing someone with your cute little thing going on.”

But the kicker was the following exchange.

After Decea referred to Rice as “hon,” Rice demanded to know just what he meant by that. Decea’s client Ladd helpfully offered that his lawyer really meant Hun, “[a]s in Attila.”

“As in Attila?” Rice retorted, “I don’t even understand that.”

C’mon. A white-shoe lawyer who represents a hedge fund’s legal firm, and she’s never heard of Barbarians at the Gate?